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Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the World
Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most widely known and admired women of the twentieth century. ... Eleanor’s entire life was spent in activity on behalf of others and she accomplished much even in the face of serious setbacks. She transformed the traditional role of a first lady by breaking the standards of a conventional society.
Eleanor’s admirers saw her as an inspirational figure, a woman of compassion who listened with sympathy and understanding to the concerns of ordinary people. They marveled at her energy, her honesty, and her independent stance as a woman making a mark on the world. (Freedman 113)
Eleanor ultimately became the first wife of a president to have a public life and career. Both in her public and private life, Eleanor maintained an absolute concern for others. ...
The most outspoken of First Ladies, she became a powerful advocate for the weak and disadvantaged in American society, for blacks and other minorities, for tenant farms, the unemployed, the hungry and the homeless, and for all those who had no platform or spokesperson of their own.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born to Anna and Elliott Roosevelt on October 11, 1884. She lived in a small, sheltered world of elegance and wealth and became part of a rich, exclusive aristocratic society.
Despite her family’s secure and influential position, Eleanor was an incredibly timid and shy little girl. ... She tried hard to bring me up well so that my manners would make up for my looks, but her efforts only made me keenly conscious of my shortcomings” (Roosevelt 14).
Eleanor, by contrast, adored her father Elliott. ... When Eleanor was with her father, she was perfectly happy and content. He was the center of her world. Eleanor’s greatest wish was to please her father. ...
Eleanor’s mother died of diphtheria when she was only eight years old. By this time her father was exiled to Virginia by his brother, President Theodore Roosevelt, to rehabilitate himself. He came to visit Eleanor, who now lived with Anna’s mother, her grandmother, Mary Hall. In the summer of 1894, Elliott lapsed into a coma after a drunken fall and died when Eleanor was not yet ten.
For the rest of her life, Eleanor was left completely aware of being ugly and awkward. The death of her parents “left Eleanor with a sense of being abandoned and unloved” (Freedman 11) that would continue to trouble her for many years to come. ... Lash, who wrote several books about Eleanor Roosevelt, realized the correlation between her abandoned childhood and her compassion towards all neglected children: “To the end of her life, her very miserable childhood, her wanting to be loved, especially by her father gave her a profound sense of kinship with all lonely, deprived, and excluded youngsters” (5). ... She was, perhaps, the first person to draw the sheltered little girl into a world where she was secure and applauded for her quick intelligence and natural kindness. “This was the first time in my life that my fears left me” (Roosevelt 24).
Mademoiselle Souvestre taught her pupils that everyone had a responsibility to try to make the world a better place and she challenged Eleanor to think differently. “Mademoiselle Souvestre shocked me into thinking, and that on the whole was very beneficial” (Roosevelt 25). ... Upon her return to New York, Eleanor found that her intelligence and friendliness—qualities that had set her apart from others at school—were not valued in the same manner. One person, though, realized Eleanor’s sense of grace and remarkable intellect: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a hopeful young man with political ambitions. ... Their wedding took place on March 17, 1905, with the president, Theodore Roosevelt, giving away his niece. ...
Eleanor was forced to step out of the shadows and campaign on Franklin’s behalf. ... She began to see politics as an effective way of improving the world. ... Eleanor’s help and encouragement gave him the will to go on first to become governor of New York, and then president of the United States.
Approximate Word count = 3359
Approximate Pages = 13.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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